Believe

You are likely curious who I am and what I do.

This is a question that I have spent most of my adult years searching for, questioning, clarifying, and finally being able to articulate to others. My journey has been long and often lonely. I grew up in Ireland with a condition called Dyslexia and was labeled all sorts of names and had people all around me draw conclusions about my permanent life challenges and shortcomings that hung around my spirits like steel chains. Most had little faith in me, but not all. For the few that believed in me, my life’s purpose is to celebrate you.

It took me years searching, thinking, working, and being a student driven by my hunger and thirst for the answers. I needed to understand my purpose. My significance. I needed to define my “worth” to the world. I needed to find my place and discover my journey.

Oddly enough, I had money, professional success, a great family, friends, and relationships. But not happiness. I just never felt settled. Never fulfilled. Like I had a gaping hole in my soul. I wondered if what I sought was elusive. Unattainable. Unrealistic. Being stubborn, I pressed on. Now I know. Now I understand. Now I believe. I believe it to my core.

I believe that we all have a significant purpose in life and the answers we seek lie within. Somewhere inside each of us if only we could find the key to unlock it. I believe that all we need are the right questions to ask, and the guidance to tap into our purpose. Where a limitless source of energy, meaning, and joy await.

I believe that the most important outcome of life is to be happy, but I believe we should not chase happiness. I believe that happiness is a by-product of the meaning and connection we have in our lives. I believe that happiness is more about whom we spend our time with as opposed to how we spend our money. I believe that to become happy, we must get to know who we are. This perhaps is our greatest of all journeys. I believe the past has created the present, and the present is creating our future.

I believe that success is manufactured in the mind while happiness is cultivated in the soul. I believe that success is not about creating more of the good days but rather learning more to handle the crappy days. I believe that most people’s lives are not as great as they say or as bad as they imagine.

I believe that we are masters of complicating our lives and justifying why we do it. Life is simple; we choose to complicate it. I believe we give ourselves what we feel we deserve. I believe that life is about feeling not thinking your way through. I believe that the meaningful things we don’t do are the things that haunt us forever.

I believe that when we compare ourselves to others, we start living someone else’s life. I believe that when we put someone on a pedestal, we tell our selves that we are not enough. I believe money can give us choices but not freedom. True freedom comes from a debt free mind.

I believe that so many parents sacrifice personal fulfillment for the happiness of their children. I would die for my children but refuse to live my life for them. I believe our true legacy is what we give the world as opposed to what we leave behind.

I believe that the ultimate destination of fear is regret. I believe our fears are like old friends, invite them to dinner, get to really know them, understand them, embrace them, and then let them go.

I believe a worthy gift we can give is to forgive someone. The greatest gift we can give is to forgive ourselves. I believe the first step to physical fitness is mental fitness. The state of our mental and physical fitness dictates the health of our relationships and business. I believe that most people spend more time and energy trying to grow their net-worth than they do on developing their self-worth.

I believe the more we understand ourself, the less we care about what others think. I believe in the absence of clarity: we must take action. The first steps we take bring with them new perspectives and options. I believe many find it easier to believe in God, yet strangely struggle to believe in ourselves. I believe the significance of our success is determined by our belief in ourselves.

I believe that once we start to believe and align with who we are, health, money, relationships begin to improve and expand with abundance. We abandon anger and entitlement to embrace acceptance, forgiveness, and responsibility. We become better sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.

I believe that creating space for ourselves, is the single greatest strategy of life and happiness.

My name is Philip McKernan. I believe my life’s purpose is to help people – perhaps you, get clear on what you believe. I may not know you or what you are about, but know this … I believe in you. Sometimes, that’s all we need to believe in ourselves.